


3 AM

by caveyoja



Series: The Family You Choose [4]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 16:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14772729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveyoja/pseuds/caveyoja
Summary: Nico and Karolina try to distract Gert after she wakes up to find Chase missing.  Karolina tells Nico and Gert about the attempted rape.





	3 AM

Gert woke up, staring into the darkness with her heart pounding. She turned to her side, reaching out for Chase, and froze when he wasn’t there. The memories from the nightmare replayed – Jonah had Chase. They were at the Church. Chase’s father was there – and he had beaten Chase so badly that Chase hadn’t moved a muscle when Victor put him in the box...and her parents were forcing her to drink something, and she was trying to fight them -

Gert bolted up. She couldn’t stay here like this with everything replaying in her head. She needed to find him so she knew he was safe. She pulled the blanket from the bed, wrapped it around her shoulders, and headed out into the hall, vaguely aware that Lace was following her.

She quickly checked his room, and then when it was empty, went to Alex’s door and pounded on it. Alex knew everything that was going on – he’d know where Chase was.

“Gert?” She spun around and faced a very concerned looking Nico and Karo. “Are you ok?” Nico asked.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. Spinning out into a panic attack wouldn’t help anything right now. When she opened her eyes back up, her heart rate had slowed a little, and her hands were less shaky. She asked hoarsely, “Do you know where Chase is?”

She saw them look at each other with expressions that screamed out “what do we tell her?”. Fuck. Something was going on, and she was out of the loop. She knew she’d been keeping herself kind of isolated as a way to keep her anxiety under control, but she had hoped they wouldn’t use that as an excuse to sideline her. But, hey, who was she kidding? They’d probably been looking for an excuse all along. 

But – she could deal with that later. Chase was missing, and her priority had to be finding him, which meant she had to find out what they were trying to keep from her. “What the hell is going on?” Gert demanded. 

“They’re on a supply run,” Karo said with the same fake smile she used to use when she was pretending to be straight.

“Bullshit! We stocked up 2 days ago.”

Karo’s mouth dropped open as she struggled for something to say, but Nico put her hand on Karo’s arm, looked at her and shook her head. Nico looked back at Gert and answered, “They went to your house to get your medication – but it’s all good – Alex sent a text that they got it, no problems, they’re on their way back.”

Gert felt as if the floor was dropping out from under her, and she took a step back and stumbled. Karo and Nico rushed over to her, each taking an arm, and walked her over the to lobby area. They sat her down on a sofa, and she heard Nico ask Karo to get her some water. Nico sat next to her and took her hands, quietly assuring her, “They’re going to be ok – everything is fine – they’ll be back soon.”

Gert nodded without even thinking about it. Because, of course they were. Because her parents or whoever couldn’t have grabbed them and texted an “all ok” message back. Because this wasn’t anything like those nightmares she had where her parents caught Chase and decided to run some gene splicing experiments. Nope. Not a thing like that. They were….wait – Alex and Chase were both there – and – where was Molly? She looked at Nico and begged, “Please – just tell me Molly isn’t with them.”

Nico put on her slightly less perfect than Karo’s fake smile, hesitated, and looked back to where Karo had gone.

Gert’s eyes widened and she looked around the room, her voice rising, as she felt her heart speed even faster, “Oh, God, Molly? They took Molly?”

Nico turned back and put her focus on Gert, reaching out to put her hands on Gert’s shoulders to try to get the other girl to look at her. “Actually, it was more like Molly and Alex talked Chase into it.” Gert closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to get away so she could find something to do to get them back, but Nico gripped her shoulders more firmly, leaned in to her, and quietly said, “They’re going to be fine. This is an easy one, ok? Chase used to sneak into your house all the time when you were kids, right?”

Gert nodded, balling her hands into fists, trying to focus on Nico and push down the feeling of terror that was close to overwhelming her. “When he wanted to get away from his Dad.”

Karolina returned, standing uncertainly to the side for a moment, before sitting down next to Gert and wrapping an arm around her. “They should be here soon.”

Gert latched on to that, “When?”

“Alex’s text was about two hours ago, so it should be any time now. It’s kind of a long drive, remember?” Nico said sympathetically.

Gert ran the timing through her head – it had taken them just under three hours to drive up here – and that was with breaks so Lace could get out and stretch her legs. They should be close by now. “Can we call them?” 

“You remember all the canyons on the way up, right? They’re not going to have reception until they’re pretty much on top of us, and even then its kind of iffy.” Nico reached back down for Gert’s hands, and looked her in the eyes, “Would it help if we focused on something else for a while?”

Gert looked at Nico disbelievingly. Seriously? Like she’d be able to think of anything else until they were back? “Like what, Nico? It’s not like we have a whole lot in common.” She glared at Karo, “Except maybe Chase.”

Karo opened her mouth to protest, but Nico jumped in, “Hey – we were all pretty stupid back then, right? I mean, Karo wasn’t out yet, and you were pushing Chase away, and – worst of all – I was dating Alex!”

Gert nodded and made an half hearted attempt at a smile as Karo moved to sit next to Nico. Reaching out to take Gert’s hand Karo quietly said, “I never said I was sorry.” At Nico’s look, Karo turned her head and explained, “Gert picked up on me liking you, but I wasn’t ready to admit it yet, and I got mad at her, so I kind of led Chase on to get back at her.”

Gert gritted her teeth – because of course right now she really needed that memory on top of everything else tonight. She dug her fingernails into her palms and hoarsely whispered, “Yeah. Molly told me he kissed you that night.”

Nico raised an eyebrow, waiting for Karo to explain. Karo grimaced and nodded, “Yeah...that happened. Does it help if you know that was the moment I realized without any doubt that I was gay?”

Nico bit back a laugh, but Gert still avoided looking at them. Did they not understand what had been happening back then? “I never thought you being into him was the problem.”

Nico blinked at Gert in surprise, “So – wait – you’re saying that you think Chase was into Karo?” Gert and Karo both looked at her in confusion, and Nico shook her head and laughed, “You two so do not know how to read people.” Gert and Karo exchanged a glance and then both turned back to Nico expectantly. 

Nico shook her head again and sat back with her hands folded on her lap. “Look, we all sort of spun in different directions after Amy died. I’m not exactly sure what happened with Chase, but – him hanging out with the roid rage crowd? That was all about his Dad. Him dogging Karo? That was about being with a girl his Dad would approve of – because, Gert? You stood up for yourself and everyone else a little too much as far as his Dad was concerned. But, every time you walked into a room? Girl – he was watching you without trying to make it seem like he was watching you. It took me a little while – and some interrogation - to figure out exactly what it was, but he was definitely into you.”

“Right,” Gert scoffed, “That’s why he would always avoid me at school.”

Nico rolled her eyes, “Let me tell you something about your boyfriend – he’s just as broken as the rest of us.” At Karo and Gert’s blank looks, Nico sighed and continued. “We’re all kind of broken in some way.” She started to count off with her fingers, “Gert – your anxiety. Molly? Abandonment. Karo? Accepting who you are. Me? Hiding behind layers of black. And Chase? He’ll do almost anything to fit in because he thinks that will make his Dad love him. It can screw you up if you don’t see it for what it is and learn to live with it.”

Gert blinked at Nico, “So – when did you become our den mother?”

Nico shrugged, “It’s what Amy used to do – you know, watching everyone? I tried it after she died. I wanted to figure out what she saw that made her kill herself.” Karo reached out and put her hand on Nico’s arm, but Nico smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry. Never found it.”

Gert sighed and buried her head in her hands. Great. It wasn’t bad enough living under the microscope with Dale and Stacey – now she had Nico the teenage witch ready to dissect her. 

“What about Alex?” Karo asked.

Nico groaned, “In love with Amy. The two of us kind of danced around that, but she was always there – telling him he loved me, and telling me I should give him a chance. Kind of creepy, actually.”

Karo slid her hand down Nico’s arm to take her hand, brought it to her lips and kissed it, “Think he’s figured that out?”

Nico squeezed Karo’s hand, “Don’t know – but he’s a smart guy. It’ll come to him.”

They lapsed into a silence, with Nico leaning into Karo and still holding Gert’s hand. Gert sat up, opened her eyes, and wiped the tears from her face. As far as creating a distraction went, Nico was pretty good. But, it was one thing to be able to see a problem – that was only half the battle. “So – any suggestions on fixing six broken kids and their dinosaur?”

Nico nodded sagely, “Oh yeah. You bet. First? No more fucking jealousy. So what if I went out with Alex before Karo? It was doomed to failure,” she kissed Karo’s hand, “and it wasn’t like I even knew you were an option babe.” She turned to Gert, “And Chase with Karo or any of those Lacrosse team groupie losers? Also doomed to failure because his heart wasn’t in it.” Gert huffed out a tired laugh and opened her mouth to set Nico straight, but stopped when Nico put her index finger to Gert’s mouth to keep her quiet. Nico put on her best impassive face and declared, “Trust the all knowing Madame Nico on this.”

Gert groaned and leaned back against the sofa. “I’m not even sure it was about who Chase wanted, really. I just remember feeling so fucking inadequate. I mean, “ she flung a hand out in Karo’s general direction, “How could I compete with Karo? Yeah – I get the reductionist objectification that Karo fit the stereotype and that was why Chase tried to date her, and I know I shouldn’t care that I don’t fit society’s norms for heterosexual desirability - “

“Are you kidding?” Karo interrupted. Gert stopped, an eyebrow raised, and looked at her. “Seriously – fuck society’s norms. Gert – that’s one of the best things about you – you have no idea how much I want to be able to not care what other people think about me.”

Gert’s mouth dropped open, “You think I don’t care what people think about me?” she asked slowly. Karo stared at Gert, not quite sure what to say, and Nico leaned forward to try to rescue her, but Gert held out a hand to stop her. “Everyone cares, Karo,” Gert spit out angrily, “I was so fucking alone after Chase left, and NONE of you were there either. Yeah, I get that we all had to cope with how broken we were, but it’s not like I had some fucking magic self-esteem potion that meant I didn’t notice that people laughed at me. They have always laughed at me. When I was a kid it was because I had the weird parents, and when I got older it was because everyone said I took things too seriously, and I became the SJW joke.”

Gert choked back a frustrated sob, “And the one guy I have liked almost my entire life? Looked right past me and saw you. When we were at your house – and maybe we could’ve hung out like, you know, FRIENDS? He kicks me out so he can talk to you. So, yeah, you say that he likes me, and that it shouldn’t fucking bother me that he pushed me aside to get to the pretty girl – but I grew up with the same bullshit you did about how I wasn’t worth anything if I wasn’t pretty and skinny and didn’t make trouble. And, yeah, I know it’s bullshit, but it still fucking hurts, ok? The brainwashing runs deep and I will always feel second class standing next to someone like you.”

Nico quickly knelt in front of Gert, with her hands wrapped around her face as she looked into her eyes, “That’s why we both took ourselves out of the game, Gert. I did it with black, and you did it with purple, but we both made sure we couldn’t be judged by some bullshit one size fits all standard. It’s a test of character – anyone who can’t see past it isn’t worth the time to look at twice, even if some of that brainwashing is still baked in to how we see ourselves.”

“But Chase? I see how he looks at you, and there’s no way he doesn’t think you’re beautiful.” She smirked, “And when you called out Eiffel? You were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Maybe he never told you out loud, but it was written all over his face.”

Nico softly kissed Gert’s forehead, and then closed her eyes, leaning her forehead into Gert’s, “We have all made mistakes, and will make other mistakes in the future. But we can’t let that break us apart. I know it hurt you seeing Chase going after Karo, but that was a mistake, and it doesn’t mean she’s got some kind of first dibs on him. It means he fucked up because he is – like I said before – kind of broken, just like the rest of us.”

Gert closed her eyes and nodded breaking down into tears as Nico wrapped her in a hug. Nico hadn’t really said anything she didn’t know, but hearing someone else say it made it more real to her. She cried softly, letting her frustration and anxiety overwhelm her, and gripped Nico tighter. 

 

Karo wrapped her arms around herself and watched them with tears in the corner of her eyes. She hadn’t asked for Chase’s attention, but she hadn’t told him it wasn’t wanted either, and after Chase had helped her at the party they’d had a secret that tied them together. She was pretty sure that Chase hadn’t filled Gert in on it yet, even if Gert suspected what had happened.

She’d come between them for too long, even if she hadn’t meant to – getting rid of the one thing that she and Chase had that he didn’t have with Gert was something she had to do. She waited until Gert’s crying had died down, and sat next to Gert, with one arm on Nico’s back to give her strength. “Gert?” She waited for Gert to dry her eyes and look up at her, “When Chase came over that time? It was to tell me what happened at the party.”

Gert pulled back from Nico, her eyes widening in realization, hoarsely whispering, “Oh...I’m sorry. I -”

Karo shook her head, “No – I shouldn’t have put him in a position where he was keeping secrets from you.”

Nico looked at them both with confusion, “Party?”

Karo sat back, her arms crossed defensively, and nodded, “Yeah. I went to one of those jock parties – you know – my pathetic attempt at rebellion - and ended up passing out. A couple of assholes from the Lacrosse team tried to rape me, but Chase stopped them before anything could happen.”

Nico’s mouth dropped open, and she glanced at Gert, and then back at Karo. “Son of a bitch!” she cursed, shaking her head. “I knew I was missing something – some kind of secret you had with Chase – but I never...” She got up, clenching her fists in anger, growling and kicking over a footstool. “When this is over and we get back? Point out those assholes to me, and I swear to the goddess I will find a spell that will turn them into fishbait!” 

Gert looked up at Nico pacing around the room and fuming, muttering obscure phrases in what might have been Japanese. As angry as she might be, Nico was pointed in the right direction, at least. No one said they couldn’t plan for the next battle after they’d kicked Jonah’s butt. And the one sure way for her to stop worrying about everything was to start planning for something. 

Karo squeezed Gert’s hand, and then got up and rushed to her girlfriend, hugging Nico and trying to assure her, “It’s ok – I’m fine – nothing happened.”

Gert watched as Karo calmed Nico down and interjected, “Actually, yeah, something did happen.” At Karo and Nico’s look, Gert continued, “Attempted rape is a crime – it doesn’t matter that they didn’t succeed, it matters that they tried. Can you honestly tell me what could have happened doesn’t terrify you?” 

Karo opened her mouth to say she was ok, but stopped herself. She wasn’t ok. She kept thinking back to waking up and not knowing what had happened. To knowing what those two assholes had planned to do to her, and wondering who else out there could try the same thing. She felt her hands start to shake, and bit down on her lip, shaking her head.

Gert walked over to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, “You were lucky enough to have someone to intervene – what about the next time they try it?”

Nico rubbed Karo’s back to comfort her, “And there will be a next time.”

“There will,” Gert echoed. “They took away your peace of mind. They tried to take away more. We can’t let them get away with it.”

Karo frowned, “And what are we supposed to do about it? We’re otherwise occupied at the moment.”

“At the moment yeah,” Gert agreed, “But this won’t be forever. They go on our to-do list when this is over.”

Nico nodded solemnly, “Damn straight they do.”

Karo looked between the two of them, absolutely certain in their convictions, and took a deep breath. Reliving all that confusion and uncertainty was scary, and she knew they’d back off is she asked...but they were right – it wasn’t going to get better unless she faced it. She smiled tightly as she decided, “OK...I’m in.”

 

 

Being able to focus on how they were going to bring the two wanna-be rapists in had helped her keep her anxiety at bay,. Sleep, however, was out of the question, so she tried to focus on mending one of Molly’s shirts instead of on why they were 30 minutes late. She knew there could have been a dozen good reasons why they hadn’t arrived, and she fought to keep herself from spinning out another dozen less likely but still plausible reasons. 

She glanced over at the lobby fireplace – Karo had built a fire with wood they’d scavenged from one of the canyons, and her, Nico and Lace were all curled up in front of it sleeping. She smiled – Nico and Karo were good together. It would have been nice if they’d been together sooner – would have saved a bit of heartache all around – but, hey, like Nico said, they were stupid back then. Not that they were much less stupid now, but they had at least sorted out some of their baggage.

Lace raise her head and look toward the door, and Gert turned in time to see headlights in the driveway. She stashed the shirt on the counter and jogged to the door, opening it to see their van pull to a stop in front of the doors. She ran to the passenger’s side, throwing her arms around both Molly and Chase as they got out. “Where in the hell were you? You should have been back hours ago you assholes!”

“Half an hour at most,” Alex said, walking around the front of the van toward the lobby door.

Chase smiled down at Gert and nodded his head toward the back of the van, “Flat tire – and the spare had a padlock on it to keep it from being stolen.”

Gert raised an eyebrow, “And you didn’t have the key?”

Molly flexed her biceps, “Didn’t need one,” she said with a smile. “But – it did slow us down a little.”

Gert sighed, “But you’re ok, right?”

“We’re fine. Sorry you got worried – we were kind of hoping to sneak back before you woke up.” Chase apologized.

Gert squeezed both their arms, “You’re ok – that’s all that matters now. I’ll chew you out tomorrow for being idiots.” She looked at Alex walking toward the motel, and shouted after him, “And that includes you too!” Alex didn’t turn around, but waved a hand to acknowledge he’d heard her as he yawned loudly.

“Hey!” Molly said to get Gert’s attention. She reached into the back of the van and pulled out the backpack, “Mission accomplished – six month’s worth of meds.”

Gert’s eyes widened, “I didn’t have six month’s worth at home.”

Chase smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, “Well, we may have gotten them from Stacey.”

Gert felt her heart speed up again, “Shit – you talked to her? She didn’t hurt you, did she?” 

“No – it was cool,” Molly assured her. “Dale and Stacey helped us.”

Gert looked at them suspiciously. Nightmare 37b - clones were not out of the question.

Alex shouted at them from the front door, “Hey – after mission report – lets get this over with so I can get to sleep, ok?”

Chase groaned, “Seriously? This can’t wait until morning?”

“Nope – we’ll forget details after we sleep.”

Molly muttered in Spanish and handed the backpack to Gert before she stumbled to the door. Gert looked through the backpack as she and Chase headed back, his arm around her shoulders. Gert stopped in her tracks, causing Chase to stumble, and looked up at him, “Why is there like a lifetime supply of condoms in this bag?”

Chase looked down at the ground for a second, thinking of how tired he was and how much he really didn’t want to go over the Dale and Stacey show right now, however productive the talk with them might have been. Then he sighed looked back up at Gert, realizing he’d be better off if he just flat out told her. “Molly may have let it slip that we were sharing a bed.”

Gert’s eyes widened, “So – my parents know about us?”

“Yep.”

“And they’re ok with it?”

“Well...Dale wasn’t too happy at first - “

“Oh, god -”

“Said I should call him Mr. Yorkes, and I said he was reinforcing patriarchal norms -”

Gert grabbed his arm and stopped him, “You did?”

“Well, yeah. That would be the right call for that, right?”

“It would. Good boy,” Gert smiled proudly.

Chase chuckled, “Anyway – I told him about me running away back then. Kinda called him and Stacey on not stopping my Dad from kicking the shit out of me when I was a kid, and he ended up telling me I wasn’t going to grow up to be like my Dad – so, all around, a pretty good conversation.” 

Gert had stopped walking, and Chase paused, turning toward her. At his questioning look she frowned and asked, “So – they knew he was hitting you?”

“Yeah.”

“I really hoped they didn’t, you know?”

Chase shrugged, “They screwed up. He said he was sorry about it, if it helps.”

“Yeah – I bet they’re sorry about a lot of things,” Gert scoffed

“GET YOUR BUTTS IN HERE NOW!” Molly shouted from the front door. “Alex says we can’t go to bed until we do some kind of stupid review and I’m soooo tired.”

Chase and Gert both chuckled, took each other’s hands and headed for the door. “Oh – yeah,” Chase remembered, “Stacey approves of us, because she says you’ve been sexually attracted to me since you hit puberty.” Gert closed her eyes and groaned, and Chase smirked at her, pulling her toward the door, “Oh, yeah - really good conversation.”


End file.
